Back To School : A New Beginning
by Donna Vito Frutti
Summary: The repeat year at Hogwarts. Hermione is back, of course. She wouldn't dream of missing a school year if she could help it. So are a bunch of other people. Not everyone is back for the education, though. For some, it's a second chance. And together, perhaps, they can make a difference. The war may be over, but not everything is as it seems on the surface. Especially with people.
1. Chapter 1

"Is there room for more in here?" Daphne asked as she stood by.

Pansy looked about to say something, but Theo cut across her.

"Of course." Pansy looked crossly at him but said nothing.

Blaise followed Daphne into the compartment. He sat across from Theo next to the window, while Daphne chose to sit next to Theo.

"Hi," Blaise said. Everyone nodded, acknowledging him.

"How were the holidays?" Blaise said, looking around.

There were murmurs of 'fine'.

"Been almost a year, hasn't it?" Daphne said.

"Yeah. It's like one very long holiday. Has anyone heard from the Ministry again?" Blaise asked.

Daphne answered.

"No. I don't think we are going to for at least another week."

"Right."

"Looks like Potter and Weasley aren't going to be with us this year," Draco said, after a while.

"Ah yes. They are the War Heroes. They don't need education." Pansy remarked, sarcastically.

"I'm pretty sure not all of us are back for just the education." Blaise said. "This is like our chance to prove ourselves. A second chance, if you will. And, of course, to bring glory and honour to the Slytherin House."

Pansy looked at him incredulously. Blaise shrugged. "It's what Slughorn said in the letter."

"Granger is back, though." Theo said. "So is Longbottom, Ginny Weasley and some others of their merry crew."

"Granger." Daphne said. "She never misses a chance to pass her tests with flying colours, does she?"

"Well, it's usually a close competition between her and Draco." Pansy said, looking dotingly at Draco.

"No need to remind me," Draco scowled.

"Why is Longbottom back, though? Does he intend to run errands for Professor Sprout?" Zabini said, lightly.

"We all saw him chop off a giant snake's head. He's not to be messed with, I think. I'm sure he will do even better in class, now that there will be no Snape to breathe down his neck. " Daphne said.

"Wonder what happened to Snape in the end." Pansy said. "Did you hear anything?"

"We only know the official story, Pansy, just like you. Apparently, he was working for the Order all along."

"Who would have thought," Daphne said, wonderingly.

"He betrayed us," Draco said, slowly.

"Yes, and thank God he did." Theo said, quietly, looking at Draco. Absently, Draco looked out the window.

"Can you imagine if we had won," Pansy said, sounding wistful.

Daphne and Theo looked at each other.

"We did win, Pansy," Zabini said, pointedly. "It's over now. He's dead."

"You and I have very different ideas of winning," Pansy said, icily.

"Yes, apparently, we do. And thank heavens for that."

Pansy glared at him.

Daphne thought for a while and said.

"You know, maybe we should go over there and make friends," she said, pointing to the compartment opposite them.

Pansy looked at her as though she had gone mad.

"What? With the likes of Longbottom! And a _Mudblood_?"

Everyone in the compartment grew quiet. Theo looked around at Draco who had stiffened visibly.

"We can't go around saying stuff like that anymore." Theo says quietly. "We need to be careful."

Pansy scoffed. "Why, just because they're heroes now?"

"They've always been heroes, but now the entire wizarding Britain knows it," Blaise said."And defeating a dark wizard is no mean feat."

"Sounds almost like you admire them." Theo said, with a small smile.

"Well, they have been doing admirable things lately," Zabini replied. "Am I the only person here who appreciates the fact that V-Vol-the Dark Lord is finally gone? We can breathe the free air, now, thanks to them. No more secrets and lies. I dunno about you, but I, for one, am glad that I can actually relax now."

"We all appreciate it, Blaise. But we can't relax completely just yet. We don't know how the others are going to take to us. I mean," Daphne said, looking around, "you do realise that even the rest of our House members are probably going to be looking at us a little differently, right?"

"This is preposterous!" Pansy exclaimed. "I can't believe we are cowering like cockroaches in here." She turned to Draco for support.

"Draco, you agree with me, right? We are not going to allow ourselves to be seen with their kind? We still have our reputation to maintain."

There was a slight pause where everyone just looked at Draco. Without looking up, he answered.

"Daphne is right," he said. "We can't afford to make any enemies now. Father says it would be a point in our favour if we can get them to vouch for us. Especially with the trials coming up."

"I don't believe this! I don't believe any of you!"

"Oh shut it, Pansy!" Daphne finally snapped. "You never really get it, do you? You always have to make things worse."

"Daphne-" Blaise tried to warn her, but Daphne paid him no mind.

Pansy looked livid. "Me?!"

"Yeah, you. Do you think the whole school has forgotten that you tried to hand Harry Potter over to the Dark Lord?"

Pansy reddened. "I was trying to save our lives." Daphne rolled her eyes, which only made her madder.

"And where do you think you're coming from? You think you have a moral high ground just because you fought in the battle for the winning side?"

"This has nothing to do with winning," Daphne said. "Pansy, if you can't see that things have changed, if you can't _accept it,_ then, I'm sorry but you're dumber than a door nail, and no amount of school education can fix that."

"How dare you!"

"I dare just fine. What about you? Grown a spine, yet?"

There was an awkward silence in the compartment.

"This was a mistake. I don't have to put up with you," Pansy said, finally. "I shouldn't even be here."

"Then, by all means, leave!"

"Fine!"

Pansy rose.

"Pansy," Draco said.

"Oh, go to hell, Malfoy," Pansy snapped. She banged the door on her way out.

"That was harsh," Theo commented.

Daphne sighed. "She had it coming."

"You should cut her some slack. She had it hard last year," Zabini said, looking after Pansy.

Daphne snorted. Draco smirked.

"Please. We all know she likes to create drama wherever she goes."

"You're gonna have a hell to pay, mate. You are supposed to take your girlfriend's side."

"I don't care. And I am not really looking forward to dealing with that sort of thing this year."

"You alright, Draco?" Theo asked.

"I am fine. But I'm not sure how much longer I will be," Draco said, leaning back and closing his eyes. It was obvious to everyone that he was thinking about the trials.

"Holidays," Theo said suddenly, counting on his fingers, "Slughorn. Grades. Girlfriend troubles." He turned to Zabini, smiling. A rare phenomenon.

"It must be nice to be able to talk about such normal things again."

"Yeah," Zabini, said, beaming. "I told you so."

Daphne looked from one to the other. And laughed. Soon, Zabini and Theo joined in. They looked over to Draco, whose lips were slowly curving into a smile, as well.

"Oh Merlin," Zabini said. "I am so glad none of us is dead."

Hours went by as the four of them found themselves talking with abandon, about everything it seemed. After a while, they broke away to follow individual pursuits. Draco was lost in his thoughts again, and Blaise looked outside the window, trying to catch a glimpse of anything interesting. However, Daphne and the usually quiet Theo pretty soon struck up another conversation.

Blaise interrupted them, and brought up the old topic again.

"Say, Daphne." Daphne turned away from Theo to give him her full attention.

"How about going over to their compartment?"

"What, now?"

"It was your idea."

"Yeah. Okay. Um, are you coming along?"

Blaise hesitated.

"Ginny Weasley is in there, you know," Daphne said.

"I don't care if some Weasley spawn is in there," Blaise said, turning to the window again.

"I'll go with you," Theo said, suddenly.

"Alright, then." Daphne drew a deep breath. "Wish us luck."


	2. Chapter 2

It was a beautiful September morning. It was just perfect, neither too cold nor too hot. The sun was out, there were a few wisps of cloud scattered across the sky, and a gentle breeze caressed her face.

There was the hustle and bustle of people moving about, and the excited chatter of children talking to each other as their parents stood by, looking on with pride and joy.

And the smoke spewed about by the scarlet engine of a train lying in wait on its designated tracks, while she stood beside it on platform nine three-quarters.

It all had a nostalgic quality to it. As though, things were back to normal after a decade or century, when, really, it had only been less than a year.

Hermione Granger was going back to Hogwarts for a repeat year. And she was just as giddy as she had been at eleven.

"Aren't you aboard, yet?"

A voice said behind her. Beaming, Hermione turned around to face two young men.

"What took you so long?" Hermione said, in mock anger.

"Merlin, Hermione, we might be war heroes but even we have to answer to powers higher than us," Ron, the owner of the earlier voice, said.

"And did the Higher Power allow you to stay for a bit?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow.

Harry laughed. "We need to get back in ten minutes, Hermione."

"Okay."

Hermione embraced both of them.

"I'm gonna miss both you."

"We will miss you too, Hermione," Harry said.

"We really don't know how we are going to survive without you," Ron said. "People have died trying to ace auror training."

"We survived the War, Ron. I'm pretty sure auror training will be a piece of cake."

"Wait till you go into training yourself. You will be singing a different tune,then. I think I'd much rather have a noseless dark wizard chase after me."

They laughed.

"I really can't believe I am going back to school without you two," Hermione said, sobering up. "It's going to be really different."

"Na, you will do great, Hermione," Harry said. "Besides, Neville, Luna and Ginny are gonna be there, too. It will be a blast, I'm sure."

"Where are they?"

"I think they have already boarded."

"Ginny insisted on going with Luna and Neville," Ron said. "My little sister has finally grown up."

"She's been grown up for a while now, Ron," Harry said.

"I refuse to believe that."

Ron, Harry and Hermione went on talking about various things in their lives.

The platform was emptying out, and there were only a couple of minutes until the train pulled out of the station. The porters whistled a warning.

Hermione looked back at the boys.

"It's nearly time."

"Have fun, Hermione," Ron said, and pulled her into a hug.

"You too, Ron."

Harry and Hermione embraced next.

"Keep out of trouble, will you?"

"I will try," Harry said.

Leaving them with a smile, Hermione climbed onto the Hogwarts Express.


	3. Redirecting Your Attention

Hi Dear Readers.

Thank you for your interest as well as support. This is not a chapter. This is a message to you that the story you hoped to continue reading here is actually posted as additional chapters in "World After Voldemort".

Hope to see you there.

I will be on a very tight schedule from now on, thanks to my full time job as well as the test prep on the side. I can only write and post through my mobile. So I may not be able to post a new chapter specifically for this story. I promise to do it as soon as possible, though. In the meantime, please read, enjoy and, if it is quite alright, review, "World After Voldemort".

Take care.


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